#8 Malacca Food Kampung Jawa

Tong Bee Longkang Siham

東美档 沟渠血蛤

143, Jalan Bunga Raya, Kampung Jawa, 75100 Melaka

Heritage Hawker Longkang Siham Est. 1959
87
Certified
Shiok
Google 4.2★

About

Longkang siham is one of those Malacca foods that English-language guides consistently miss. The concept is simple: blanched blood cockles (siham) served with a punchy dipping sauce made from hae ko (fermented prawn paste), belacan, and chilli. You sit on tiny stools in a narrow back lane off Jalan Bunga Raya, crack open the shells, dip, and eat.

Tong Bee has been doing this since 1959, founded by Qiu Dongmei. Now in its third generation. A rival stall, Capitol Seafood, set up in the same back lane in 1967. Both families have been competing for over 50 years in a lane barely wide enough for two people to pass. The sauce recipe is what separates them, and both guard theirs.

Beyond cockles, Tong Bee also serves sotong kangkung (squid with water spinach), charcoal-grilled tofu, and dried squid. A full meal is about RM 13. Open evenings from 6pm, closed Wednesdays. This is not pretty food in a pretty setting. It is back-lane street food that has survived 65 years because it is genuinely good.

ShiokScore Breakdown

Scored across 5 dimensions. Learn what each means →

Flavour 84

How the food actually tastes. Seasoning balance, depth, complexity. Does it taste like someone cared, or like it was made for volume?

Authenticity 96

Heritage and tradition. Family recipes, original techniques, generational knowledge. A 60-year-old stall doing it the same way scores higher than a 3-year-old franchise copying the format.

Technique 80

Craft and preparation skill. Hand-rolled rice balls vs machine-pressed. Fresh coconut milk vs packet. Charcoal fire vs gas stove. The effort shows in the product.

Value 92

What you get for what you pay, in SGD terms. Malacca food is cheap by Singapore standards. But cheap and good is different from cheap and forgettable.

Accessibility 82

How easy it is to get there. Walking distance from Jonker Street scores highest. A 20-minute drive to Bukit Rambai for weekends-only cendol still scores well if it is worth the trip.

Type: Heritage Hawker

Decades-old family operations. The recipe came from a grandparent. The queue is part of the experience. They close when they sell out, not when the clock says so.